I personally think it's parallel universe. So 2 realities, both in which is intertwined with the prince dude
I mean tge description alludes to reincarnation.
There was a written explaination at the start of the newest chapter. The author was lazy and literally skipped ALL the important happenings (the MCs escape after the rape, his death, his reincarnation, his new life up the the point of him seeking a job and then somehow ending up in bed with the emperor-lookalike).
I've skipped this due to this abyssmal level of writing. There's a limit to how much you can skip, and this is way too much. Especially since there were zero visual cues for the start being a flashback or the new chapters being the present times.
It's confusing and not enjoyable to read and I'm not gonna stick around and read the translation group's selfwritten notes to know what the hell is going on (I very much appreciate their effort and concern for clearing up tho).
Im confused about the timeline of this story. So, i make a conclusion
1. Earnt has reincarnated to his past life. So, i assume that the time is reversed.
2. Maybe when he mean "escape", it's just my opinion, he committed suicide.
3. Another "escape" maybe he escape from being a knight, or before he's being a knight, so he won't seeing Emperor again.
4. If im not wrong, maybe Rowinard wasn't an emperor yet, cz Earnt say he's younger and lil bit different.
That was just my opinion cz this story is a lil bit confusing.